Marlene,
In the past when I've had to deal with this it really just depended on what was worse. Yes, the dental could cause problems due the fact that Pekoe is positive. But yes, so could bad teeth if an infection develops. In these cases I have always just had to talk to the vet and then make a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' type decision.
As far as anemia, I would be concerned about Pekoe licking the concrete whether or not it shows up in the bloodwork. If the bloodwork showed nothing at all I'd at least get Pekoe on a good multi-vitamin (if you're not already doing supplements).
Let us know how the bloodwork turns out.
tonya
Marlene Chornie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Marlene Chornie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello All,First of all, my condolences to all of you who have lost a beloved furbaby, and my best wishes to all who are caring for ill ones.I haven't posted in many months, since we lost our sweet little Digby to FelV last May. I mostly lurk and have kept up with the posts on a daily basis. Since last May, Pekoe (FelV+) has been doing wonderfully well - until this past weekend. Just to refresh, Pekoe is a little over 2 yrs. old, and was diagnosed with FelV almost a year ago at the age of about 15 mos. At that time, he was anaemic from Hemobartonellosis and was successfully treated with Doxycycline. This past weekend, I caught him licking the concrete floor in the basement, and - you know what I thought/suspected!! Everything else about him was completely normal - appetite, litter box habits, activity level. We took him to the vet clinic this morning (his regular vet was off). They ran a PCV (Hematocrit) and it was 30% (Normal reference range 24 - 45%). They also sent off some blood work to their Animal Health Lab and the results will be back tomorrow. They'll be checking for Hemobart as well. Fortunately, we took Pekoe last June to have some "baseline" blood work done (everything was pretty good), so they'll at least have something to compare his recent results to. The vet today checked him out - Temp. was normal, etc. When she checked his mouth/teeth, she noted that a couple of teeth may have to be extracted - a tiny incisor on the upper Rt. beside his "fang" tooth, and a larger tooth on the upper Lt. side 2nd from the back tooth. He'll also need a dental cleaning. We questioned starting on Doxycycline anyway, but she didn't seem convinced (and frankly neither was I) that this is Hemobart related. He isn't acting at all the way he did when he had the Hemobart before. We even discussed the possibility that there might be something on the concrete floor that he may be "attracted" to, because he only licks in a certain area and no where else. To be honest, I'm a little "baffled"?We have an appointment with his regular vet on Thurs. to discuss everything pertaining to the dental work. Of course, my first concern is with him being under anaesthetic, and what that might "trigger". I know that our clinic uses Isofluorane. It's been quite a while since we've had any "experience" with a cat having dental work. The last time was with our Casper who was 16 at the time, and developed CRF shortly after a dental. He lived to be almost 20 1/2 yrs. old with our treatment of his CRF.Needless to say, I have a multitude of questions for our vet with regard to dental surgery on a FelV+ cat. I've already compiled a list of questions, but would invite everyone's thoughts/questions on the matter.Marlene(Pekoe & Angel Digby)
